


High School Reunion

by StarlightDruid



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fairy Tail non-canon, Fairy tail au, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mention of attempted rape, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:09:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29896797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightDruid/pseuds/StarlightDruid
Summary: Gajeel has no interest in attending his 10-year high school reunion at Magnolia High. But Juvia, the only friend he's ever really had, manages to sucker him into it against his better judgment. But it's not everyone else he's afraid of seeing. It's Levy, whom he'd nearly killed by accident when he was part of the Phantom Lords...The last person Levy really expected to be at her high school reunion was the man who'd almost killed her. She'd avoided everything to do with the trauma for 10 years. Little did she know that things were not what they seemed...~*~Sorry, I'm shite at writing summaries.Fairy Tail AU, non-canonNone of the characters are mine; they are all the property of Hiro Mashima. The only thing I own is this story.
Relationships: Levy McGarden & Gajeel Redfox, Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW: Mentions of stalking. It's well-intended, but let's be honest: stalking is stalking, and stalking is creepy.

“I don’t wanna go to the goddamn reunion, Juvia, so would you drop it already?! Why the fuck do you think any of those people would want to see me, anyway?” Gajeel barked at his long-time friend. Go to the 10-year high school reunion?! He would rather go full dragon mode and then get his iron scales plucked one by one.

“It’s just that I don’t want to go alone, Gajeel,” Juvia said sheepishly. “I know Gray is going to be there and… I just…” she looked at him helplessly as her words failed her.

“You still carryin’ a torch for that Ice-Ice-Deadbeat?” Gajeel softened his ire enough to tease.

“Stop calling him that!” Hoo, boy. 10 years later and Juvia could still fly into an impressive rage quicker than Laxus’ lightning if she perceived any insult towards her darling Gray.

“So, you want me there with you, _**why**_?” Gajeel prompted, ignoring her outburst.

“I need you to help me not make a fool of myself,” Juvia said quietly, looking down at the floor.

“You walk into Magnolia High with me, you’ll already be a fool,” Gajeel pointed out. “I mean, anyone else you wanna see is gonna steer clear of you hardcore if you show up there with me.” Plus, the thought of standing there otherwise alone and awkward while everyone avoided him (understandably) and gave him looks of fear or disgust (also understandable) sounded about as much fun as a whole weekend of tweezing his pubes with a hot poker up his ass.

“Please, Gajeel?” Juvia begged. “I’m so sorry. I feel terrible for asking and I know I’m being so selfish for doing so. I just don’t really have anyone else I can ask.”

Gajeel sighed. Juvia was the only one who had stubbornly insisted on being his friend in high school and she had paid the price for it after what he’d done. She'd had a ridiculously good heart, so he’d stuck by her to make sure that no one ever used her good heart against her. For her, he’d even cleaned himself up.

He’d worked off his debt to society and lived a quiet life working as a mechanic, having cut all ties to his former gang, the Phantom Lords. His heart clenched as he remembered the girl who’d gotten caught in the crossfire in one of their gang wars and nearly died….

Oh, gods…

“Juvia, what if **_she_** is there? I can’t… I can’t make her go through that shit again! I mean, she’s probably really, REALLY hoping I won’t be there. It’s supposed to be a good night for all those losers, but of all of them, she deserves…” His hands gestured at his own failure with words.

Levy deserved everything. She deserved everything he’d almost taken from her. He owed her everything. In his own fucked up -- and probably creepy… ok, it was DEFINITELY creepy -- way, he’d looked after her ever since he'd gotten out of prison. Not obsessively, the way Juvia kept tabs on Gray, mind you. But he’d look her up on the social medias sometimes. He knew where she worked, which was at a library in a rather seedy side of town not far from the auto shop he worked at. He knew how to blend into the darkness, so every evening when Levy walked home from work, he’d kept to the shadows only to make sure she’d gotten home safely. After that, he’d always bolt for home, never lingering.

Not even Juvia knew this. No one in their right minds did shit like this and he knew it. It was way too close to “50 Shades of Grey” bullshit and he knew it. But the thought of Levy ever getting hurt again made him die inside.

Someone had tried to jump her once. Gajeel didn’t even want to think of what might have happened if he’d not been there. He’d been in and out with that slimy motherfucker so fast, Levy hadn’t even known what happened. And after he’d dispatched the asshole to the hospital with a broken spine (a surefire way to make sure he’d never try to rape anyone ever again), he’d made sure Levy had gotten home safely. She had. Shaken, but safe. He’d heard her talking frantically on the phone with her best friend, Lucy, and nope. She hadn’t had any idea that he was the one who saved her.

Good. It was better for her if it stayed that way.

“I’ll tell you what,” Juvia offered, pulling him out of his reverie. “Help me keep from making a fool of myself with Gray and I’ll help you avoid Levy if she’s there.”

“How?”

“I still remember all the best hiding places…” she started to say.

“Wait, the gym’s not gonna be totally lit up, is it?” If there were shadows for him to shrink into, then he’d be fine.

“Well, no,” Juvia answered, completely confused. “Especially not when the dance starts.”

Aaaaahhhh, there was gonna be a dance. No wonder Juvia wanted him along. That would be her biggest temptation to pounce on Gray and ask him for a dance until he gave in out of sheer desperation to shake her off of him, like what he’d heard happened at their senior prom, which he hadn’t been at, of course.

“What about before then?”

“Well, most of the socializing is set up to take place on the quad outside.”

“And this stupid-ass shindig isn’t supposed to start til after dark?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Juvia still looked at him like he’d grown three heads.

“Alright, fine. I’ll go and keep an eye on you,” he finally agreed with an overdramatic sigh of annoyance. Oh, he genuinely felt as annoyed as he sounded, but maybe if he could just stay off everyone’s radar enough, it wouldn’t be the utter disaster he feared.

“Oh, thank you, Gajeel!” Juvia squealed, pouncing on him with an exuberant hug.

“Yeah, yeah,” he shrugged, completely embarrassed by Juvia’s display of enthusiastic affection. He should be used to this by now, really.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Levy! You about ready to go?” Levy heard her best friend and roommate from the living room as she adorned her final touches of makeup. To be honest, she wasn’t particularly looking forward to this, but Lucy had begged her.

“Yeah, Lu, I’m almost done!” she called so that Lucy wouldn’t come in here while she was daydreaming/wallowing. Yeah, she’d technically graduated from Magnolia High, but she’d done so from a hospital room. And even if that hadn’t been the case, she’d never really fit in with any of the other people there. Oh, they liked her well enough, but she’d always been more content to be off by herself in the library.

Lucy had been the one who’d stubbornly refused to let Levy go through high school without anyone to talk to. And they’d connected over books, which had been the best thing Levy could have ever asked for. Oh sure, there had been Droy and Jet, but they’d been more like affectionate brothers to her. They’d even been her roommates for a while before they’d gone to study abroad. They had ended up loving Alvarez so much that they’d stayed after they’d graduated college. Unfortunately, they were so busy, they’d not been able to make it back for tonight’s high school reunion.

After they’d left, Levy had actually loved living alone for a while, until **_that_** night almost three years ago. After that, Lucy had insisted upon moving in and Levy had been grateful to let her. She still couldn't figure out what had happened. One minute, a man with a knife was demanding she move into an alley where she knew exactly what he'd planned to do, and the next, something freakishly big and fast had pounced on him from the shadows and dragged him away, screaming. When the scream had cut off, she had run away blindly and hadn't stopped until she'd reached the safety of her apartment. 

“Levy?” a soft voice and the touch of Lucy’s hand startled her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, but are you ok?”

“Honestly, I’m just not really looking forward to tonight, Lu,” Levy confessed.

“Why not, hon?” Lucy pulled up the nearby footstool so she could listen.

  
“I just…” she flailed for a moment. “I mean, everyone was nice enough to me, but…”

“I get it, I think,” Lucy tried to rescue her. “You’ve always been the introvert. But, I mean, it could be fun to catch up with people a little. And if nothing else, there’s that dance afterward.” She laughed at Levy’s pained look.

“That’s even worse, Lu.”

“Hey, if nothing else, you and I will dance together all night, ok?” Lucy winked at her. Still, there was something hiding behind Lucy’s usual cheerfulness that Levy didn’t miss.

“What are _**you**_ worried about, Lu?” she pried shamelessly. If there was even a chance she wasn’t the only one nervous about tonight, she was damn well going to find out.

“Well, I’m worried that Natsu’s going to be there,” she admitted. “And part of me hopes he is, but I also hope that he isn’t.”

Levy nodded. Lucy and Natsu had been a strange item in school, but they’d had a bad breakup right before graduation when his childhood sweetheart, Lisanna, had moved back from Alvarez, where her parents had worked as ambassadors before they'd died in a car accident. Levy remembered how Lucy had tried so hard not to cry. To keep a brave face. And Levy had seemed to be the only one who’d known how much Lucy had been dying inside.

“Lucy, are you going to the reunion tonight because Natsu might be there?” she asked gently.

“No!” Lucy yelped quickly. Too quickly. And, at Levy’s knowing smirk, she slumped a little. “Ok, yes. Yes, I think that’s the main reason I want to go. I mean, I also want to see everyone else and see how they’ve been doing.  
"So many of us still live in the same town but… but we all grew apart and I miss them. I miss Erza and how she always kept Natsu’s head in line. I miss Cana. She basically competed with you in trying to keep me distracted after I broke up with Natsu.” Levy felt bad, but her thoughts began to meander a little as Lucy went on listing the people she missed – classmates and favorite teachers.

There was one thing Levy hadn’t mentioned to Lucy. Because this worry was stupid.

Suddenly, Levy found herself greeted with Lucy’s expectant gaze and she sighed. “I’m sorry, Lu. I was listening, I swear.”

“Something else has you worried,” Lucy waved away her apology with concern.

Levy sighed with embarrassment. “Yeah, well, I’m just worried that… well, it’s really stupid, because why would **_he_** be there?”

“Ah,” Lucy said quietly, full understanding softening her gaze. “You’re worried that Gajeel might be there?”

“Yeah, but why would he? He hated everyone there. He even hated me.” Levy’s throat closed to a whisper as she said that last. He’d hated her. Hated her so much that he’d even shot her. She’d had a ridiculous crush on him before then. She’d even tried coming out of her social shell to befriend him when she saw that his only friend had been Juvia. Everyone else had written him off.

“Honey, I don’t think he hated you,” Lucy offered. “I really don’t.”

“Why not?” Levy looked at her best friend with sharp, angry eyes.

Lucy stood her ground. “I know that after what happened, you avoided anything to do with it, so I didn’t tell you…”

“What didn’t you tell me? Aside from the fact that he went to jail?”

“Well, I went to his court appearance, Levy. He pleaded guilty. He said it was an accident and that he’d do anything to take it back. His lawyer even tried to get him a plea deal, but he refused. He wanted the maximum punishment. And also? The entire time, his eyes looked so haunted and sad. And you and I both know that Gajeel was not one for pretending anything. I mean, he couldn’t even pretend he liked anyone. Hell, he tolerated Juvia because she had a way of wearing down a marble statue and he couldn’t get rid of her.”

Levy listened to Lucy’s story, completely stunned. It was true. Gajeel never let anyone close. He’d even chased her off with that chip on his shoulder even though Levy could tell that it was a defense mechanism. I mean, how could he actually hate her? she’d reasoned with herself back then. He didn’t even know her. And yet that small bit of faith had been shattered with a bullet.  
“What happened after that, Lu?” Levy finally asked quietly after she’d managed to process what Lucy had said. “I assume you kept up with him after that.”

“I did,” Lucy admitted sheepishly. “I just wanted to make sure he wouldn’t hurt you again once he got out.  
“The judge sentenced him to only five years. She said that she’d never seen someone from Phantom Lord exhibit actual and genuine remorse. She’d sentenced the rest of those fuckers to the maximum sentence possible and she’d been prepared to do the same for Gajeel. But he was the only one to actually ask for the maximum rather than try to skate by with the minimum. He asked to be put away for life for what he’d done.

“I thought his lawyer was going to crap diamonds when he did that.”

Levy stared at Lucy breathlessly. Gajeel had wanted to be sentenced to life in prison for shooting her? She could barely process that it had been an accident. Then again, there wasn’t a whole lot she remembered about that night.

She’d been working at a convenience store that, unbeknownst to her, was in the territory of the Phantom Lords’ rival gang, Sabretooth. Gajeel and a few of his fellow gang members had come in to rob the place at gunpoint, but she couldn’t remember much after that.  
She absently reached up to touch the scar on the right side of her head.

“What happened after Gajeel got out of prison?”

“Well, in prison, he was able to learn a trade and once he got out, he got a job as a mechanic.”

“And?” Levy waited.

“And that’s it. He’s been working there ever since. I’ve used my contacts at the Magnolia Gazette numerous times. Some of the people from Phantom Lord tried to weasel him back into their gang and he told them, in many, many colorful ways, to go fuck themselves. They tried to threaten him and they basically got told by him **_and_** his boss, Metallicana, that it’d be the last stupid thing they ever did. Something, something, pig farms and shark tanks, something, something.”

Levy laughed incredulously. She’d forgotten that Gajeel was so verbally creative. It made her remember way back when she used to fantasize about what else he might be good at with his mouth…. **_Oh, fucking_** _stop it **!!!**_

“So…” Levy hesitated, “so, you really think he was telling the truth? About what happened that night, I mean?”

Lucy scrunched her face thoughtfully for a moment. “I mean, aside from everything else, like his request to be put away for life? Yeah. I do. He told the judge everything he could remember from what went down that night and he couldn’t even look at her. His lawyer was practically bald by the time the sentence came down.”

“What did happen? The last thing I really remember was him and some of his fellow cronies coming into my store with guns.”

Lucy looked at her watch. “Tell you what. Why don’t I finish your eye makeup and then I’ll tell you what I can remember in the car on the way there.”

Levy gave her a disgruntled look, but they were supposed to leave in five minutes and it was likely going to be at least ten. “Fine,” she capitulated grudgingly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gajeel didn’t know what surprised him more. That people didn’t run for the hills when he showed up with Juvia (he’d been unable to escape the nametag line), that some people actually came up to talk to him, or that Gray had actually sought Juvia out. Did hell freeze the fuck over?? I mean, people didn’t grow up and change **_this much_** in 10 years, did they?? It almost made him even more uncomfortable than his plan of just hiding in the shadows! At least then he would have been more prepared for the moment he’d dreaded when it happened.

He’d been talking to a couple of classmates who, as it turned out, he’d done the repairs for on their cars. Gray had been one of them.

“Man, she’s been running like a dream since I brought her to you, Gajeel!” Gray enthusiastically told him.

“How’d you even know it was me?” Gajeel had groused with some of his usual grumpy bluster.

“Uh, your name was on the repair ticket, man,” Gray reminded him, causing Gajeel to facepalm. Gajeel had never known whose car it was he was fixing. He never looked at the names. They weren’t important. Metallicana had already said that his garage would never take the likes of anyone from Phantom Lord, so Gajeel hadn’t cared. All that had mattered was the cars. Whether it was a simple oil change or having to rebuild a wrecked engine, he’d always given the cars every ounce of TLC they needed. And if any of them needed more work than what they’d brought in for, he never charged extra. It was his way of paying what he felt was his ongoing debt to society.

_Five fucking years._ He’d hated the judge so fucking much for only giving him _five fucking years_ in prison. How the fuck was that fair to Levy?? He’d almost killed her for fucks’ sake! Five goddamn years wasn’t justice! It was a motherfucking wrist massage!

So he’d only take pay for the work that had been requested. It couldn’t possibly be enough to wipe the red from his ledger, but it was all he could do. If a car was brought in for an oil change but he noticed the brakes were running close to their end? He’d pay for the parts out of his own pocket and do the work for free. Whatever the cars needed without ripping their owners out the ass of their bank accounts. It didn’t hurt that his work ethic made the reputation of Metallicana’s Auto Repair soar above the rest in Magnolia.

It was at the moment that last thought flitted through his head that he froze. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!!_ The reunion had started almost half an hour ago and no one else had shown up past the first five minutes, so he’d allowed himself to relax a little. But now he could smell her coming.

Gajeel’s gut clenched. She still smelled like lilacs. Such a sweet, innocent fragrance. He remembered her smelling like that the first time she’d tried talking to him at school before he’d chased her off out of habit. He’d always been used to just keeping people away from him and Juvia had been the only one he’d not been able to shake loose from.

But he’d never meant to snap at her. Not Levy. Sweet, petite Levy, whom he’d had a severe crush on when he’d started at Magnolia High.

Gajeel yanked himself out of the memories. He couldn’t afford to be here. He couldn’t let her see him. He didn’t want to see the trauma flash across her face when all he could see was the look she’d had when his gun had gone off. He’d thought he’d missed her at first…

“Gajeel? Are you ok?” Juvia’s voice broke through the haze of his building panic.

He shook his head as he stepped away from her and Gray, who were both looking at him with expressions of concern.

“I’m sorry, I have to go…” the words died on his lips as he looked at Juvia’s eyes. She wasn’t looking at him. She was looking past him.

Oh… fuck…

He slowly turned around and there she was. Just as petite as ever, even at 28. She and Lucy were arm-in-arm and they both stared at him like deer caught in the headlights. However unoriginal that phrase was, it was no less true, and his heart sputtered in his chest like an engine that failed to turn over. Finally, he looked up just enough to barely meet Levy’s startled eyes.  
“I’m… I’m sorry,” he finally blurted at last. “I shouldn’t be here. I’m sorry,” he said again before he fled.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Levy stared at Gajeel’s hastily retreating form, completely stunned. He was even more ruggedly handsome than she remembered. That was her first thought. Somehow that was her first fucking thought upon seeing the man who had shot her, apparently by accident. Holy shit, he’d filled out! He’d been a lanky teenager, all arms and legs with those first layers of defined muscle peeking through the sleeves of his shirts. He had more piercings now than he did back then. They'd gotten even more strange and unorthodox, especially his eyebrow piercings, and yet he pulled the look off with the kind of panache that only Gajeel could possess. 

Levy was completely startled to realize that that night hadn’t come immediately to her mind. She had avoided everything to do with him for so long, certain that any reminder of him would trigger her PTSD. But the look on his face! That look! So stunned and lost and… and sad! Now she understood why Lucy believed Gajeel to have been completely remorseful of what he’d done.

“Levy? Are you ok?” Lucy’s breathless whisper yanked her out of her thoughts.

Levy didn’t even answer. She didn’t even think. She’d been living these last 10 years even deeper in her shell because she’d been afraid and now it seemed that everything she’d been afraid of might have been wrong. She had to know if she was wrong!

She looked around in confusion when she got outside. Where the fuck was he? He hadn’t gotten that much of a head start! Her eyes narrowed as she looked carefully around. He had to be here somewhere. It was dark. The most logical possibility was that he was trying to obscure himself in the shadows. But as she looked, still not spotting him, she began to wonder if it was just that he hadn’t wanted to see her.

How would I feel, she wondered to herself, if I’d hurt someone like that and felt so badly about it that I wanted to be sentenced to life in prison, only to end up running into them at a high school reunion?

Her shoulders slumped. It was possible he was just trying to protect her. But it was just as likely, if not more, that he was also trying to protect himself. Levy frowned at that thought. No. Actually, that couldn’t be the case. He’d tried to go to prison for life for what he’d done. That wasn’t the kind of action taken by someone trying to protect themselves. The only thing Gajeel had ever done to protect himself was to try to keep people away from him, but that was before. Back when he used to drive people away with a snarl.

“Gajeel!” Levy called, now filled with a determination that would not be denied. “I know you’re still here, Gajeel! You’re fast, but you’re not that fast!”

No answer. She went quiet, listening for the slightest sound, looking for the slightest hint of movement. There! It was subtle, but she could just make out a shape in the shadows only slightly darker than what surrounded it. She strode up to him with a determination that surprised even her.

“Wha… how the hell did you see me, shrimp?” Gajeel’s voice blurted out to her from the shadows.

She crossed her arms. “Did you know that wearing something like a dark navy blue helps you blend in with the dark even better than black does?” she asked conversationally. She heard a startled squeak work past his throat and she almost laughed. She was dizzy with the amount of chutzpah she’d managed to work up and the adrenaline from it was heady.

Finally, Gajeel stepped out from his dark hiding place. His face was a mask of a disgruntled frown. “No one’s ever been able to spot me in the shadows before,” he grumbled.

Ah, now he was more the Gajeel she remembered from before. Surly, rude, and untrusting with an automatic chip on his shoulder a mile wide at least.

“Why are you running, Gajeel?” she asked quietly.

He slumped at her question. “I didn’t even want to come to this stupid shindig,” he grumbled apologetically, “but Juvia begged me to. She was afraid she’d make a complete fool of herself over Gray and she wanted me here as her own personal attitude check. But I was afraid you’d be here. I was afraid that… that seeing me would… be painful for you,” he finally finished. He refused to look at her.

Levy studied him quietly, taking in every angle and piercing of his face and the misery contained in his garnet-colored eyes. He was so tall. He towered over her petite 5’2” frame at a staggering 6’5”. She didn't want to think about how she still wanted to climb him like a tree and he was tall enough to make that statement literal. No. Definitely not a good time to be thinking of that. 

“I… I don’t really remember what happened,” Levy finally confessed, “and I’ve avoided finding out because the last thing I remember is you coming into my store with a gun. It took a while, actually, to even remember that much,” she went on despite the pained expression that tightened Gajeel’s face even further.  
“Lucy told me that you tried to get sent to prison for life,” she blurted. “She told me right before we came here. I was worried about seeing you.” Why couldn’t she stop? “I didn’t think you’d be here, but…”

“Yeah, I get it. That’s why I was trying to leave.”

Levy’s jaw dropped. That wasn’t what she meant. Shit. But that was how she’d sounded.

“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant—” but Gajeel cut her off by turning to walk away. “Gajeel!” she called sharply. “That wasn’t what I meant, and I think you owe it to me to listen!” She held her ground when he whirled to look at her with an outraged, shocked expression. She squared her shoulders.  
“You’re **_not_** going to chase me off this time and I’m **_not_** letting you run away.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is only my second ever fanfic and my first ever for the Fairy Tail fandom. Please, please, please validate my existence with some likes and comments! Gajeel and Levy are my freaking heart and I've been dying to try to come up with a story for them for ages, so at the very least, please be nice if you need to tell me this story sucks? *embarrassed ADHD grin*


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At Levy's behest, Gajeel opens up about what happened that night...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for the comments I've already received on Chapter 1! I can't thank you guys enough! Y'all definitely made this ADHD chick's day and I couldn't wait to post Chapter 2 for y'all ASAP! ^_^ I know I should pace myself a bit more and draw out chapter postings a bit more than this, but I didn't want to leave y'all hanging that much just yet ^_^ I hope you guys enjoy! And don't worry, Levy's not gonna let Gajeel get away with wallowing much longer ;-) 
> 
> I've already written Chapter 3 and once I get this posted, I'm going to get crackin' on Chapter 4, so don't worry! More will be coming! Thank you so much again for reading and reviewing, my lovelies! <3

Gajeel couldn’t have been more stunned at Levy’s tone than if she’d hauled off and punched him across his studded face. She’d been such a shy and soft-spoken little pixie of a kid in high school. She’d run away from him like a frightened rabbit the one time she’d tried to approach him like a friend. And now here she was mouthing off to him like she was a giant?

Dayamn. He didn’t want to be here and didn’t want to hear her tell him how he should still be rotting in prison or telling him anything else he already knew, but _dayamn_! He couldn’t not be impressed. Especially when she strode her tiny self back up to him.

“Why did you ask to be sent to prison for life? Apparently, you were the only Phantom Lord to ask for that.”

“Because I never meant for you to get hurt, shortstack,” he finally managed a gruff reply. “I didn’t even know that you worked there. I was a stupid kid back then running with bad people because I thought that that was the only ‘family’ I deserved.

“Jose wanted to hit a place in Sabretooth’s turf because he wanted to rankle them enough to make them retaliate so he could have the war with them that he wanted. It was supposed to just be a simple robbery.” He didn’t know where all this was coming from, but once he’d started, he just couldn’t stop. Like a sinner at confession. And the whole time Levy held her ground and listened with the calmest expression he’d ever seen on anyone in his life.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_“What’s the point of even hitting this joint anyway?” Gajeel complained to the two lackeys assigned to accompany him to the little convenience store. “They never keep much money anyway and it’s never much of a challenge.”_

_“What, Gajeel, would you rather we do something even more stupid, like rob a bank?” Totomaru grumbled. Of all the people in Phantom Lord, Totomaru was the only one as surly as Gajeel and completely unafraid of him._

_“I don’t know!” Gajeel shouted, his blood boiling. Why had Jose insisted that this shithead come with him? He fucking_ hated _Totomaru! Well, he hated everyone, but he hated Totomaru the most. “It’s just pointless! How is our hitting this stupid convenience store supposed to piss Sabretooth off that much, huh?”_

_“I don’t fucking know, Gajeel, but Jose said for us to hit this store, so shut the fuck up with your bellyaching and let’s just get it done!”_

_“Don’t tell me to shut up, Totomaru!” the full force of Gajeel’s teenage temper exploded in full. “I will kick your fucking ass from here to—”_

_“Listening to you two fight all the time,” wailed a distressed Aria, “makes me… so sad!!”_

_“Oh, fucking hell,” groaned Totomaru as he and Gajeel exchanged pained looks, completely forgetting about their fight. “Of all the people for Jose to send with us, why did we have to get stuck with King Waterworks?”_

_“Mostly to keep you two from fighting,” Aria replied simply._

_Gajeel rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get this over with.” He reached into his backpack and found his pistol, which he tucked into the waistband of his pants after ensuring the safety was on. Wait… where were the masks?_

_“Oi! Totomaru, did you take my mask out of my backpack?”_

_“Why the fuck would I bother with your disgusting belongings, Gajeel?” Totomaru sounded bored and annoyed._

_“Do you have a mask?”_

_“No, stupid. None of us do.” Gajeel’s teeth ground together in an audible metallic shriek at Totomaru’s tone._

_“Why… the fuck… would we do this without masks?” he ground out through his clenched teeth. This felt like a set-up and he didn’t like it._

_“Maybe because Jose wants Sabretooth to know that the Phantom Lords are behind the hit, Gajeel,” Totomaru said slowly, as if he were talking to the biggest idiot in town._

_“That’s it! You wanna fucking go, pal?!” Gajeel roared as his muscles bunched together, preparing to pounce. The sound of Aria’s waterworks starting up again made him pause._

_“You can kick my ass once we’re done,” Totomaru snapped._

_“And you can kiss mine forever,” Gajeel shot back. “Wait. Scratch that. My ass would be forever contaminated from that form of contact, you filthy flamethrower!” He smirked inwardly as Totomaru sputtered. Gajeel never felt like the brightest bulb in the chandelier but it always made him feel like he had to have more going for him than Totomaru when such lame comebacks could render him speechless._

_“Let’s go.” He spun on his heel and strode to the store’s entrance with Aria and a grumbling Totomaru on his heels._

_“Keep calm and do what we say! This is a stick-up!” Gajeel barked as he walked into the store, drawing his gun. But then the girl at the checkout counter came into view and he almost swallowed his tongue. No! Not her! What the fuck was_ Levy _doing here?!_

_Neither Totomaru nor Aria noticed Gajeel’s expression. They both drew their guns on her and Gajeel had to fight like crazy to keep from tackling them both for the audacity._

_Levy, who had looked up from the book she’d been reading while the store had been empty, seemed completely frozen, her eyes locked onto Gajeel with a flurry of emotions. Shock. Disbelief. And hurt. The hurt in her eyes was what killed him._

_It was even worse than the look on her face when he’d snarled at her for trying to talk to him. And he hadn’t even meant to. He’d been lost in thought about something, he couldn’t even remember what, and hadn’t noticed when the girl of his dreams had approached him._

_Oh, he still probably would have sent her packing. A guy like him had no business with a pure, kindhearted wisp of a girl like her. But he would have sent her away with a gruff rebuff. Instead, she’d startled him and he’d bitten her head off. She’d stayed the fuck away from him ever since, just like he’d wanted, and he hated himself for it._

_Gajeel fought to keep his expression hard, as though it didn’t matter that Levy was here. If it weren’t her, it’d be some other poor sap, so why should he take any pity on her?_

_“Give us the money, shrimp, and this will be nothing but a bad dream,” he ground out._

_“Gajeel, why are you doing this?” Levy sputtered. Then she spotted his tattoo, the one he always kept covered up at school. “You’re a Phantom Lord?” she blurted with disbelief._

_Gajeel couldn’t keep the shame off his face. Being in a gang was the only thing his despicable self was good for, but the disappointment on Levy’s face killed him more than he thought it would._

_“Levy, I don’t have time to argue with you—”_

_“Just give us the fucking money, bitch!” Totomaru’s patience completely snapped and he strode forward to backhand her with the pistol in his hand._

_The sound of Levy’s cry of shock and pain rang in Gajeel’s ears and he lost it. “Don’t you touch her!” he roared at Totomaru and he lunged forward to tackle the bastard to the ground._

_“What the fuck are you doing, Gajeel?!” Totomaru yelped as Gajeel made his head bounce off the floor. The two of them rolled across the floor, punching and kicking, knocking over shelves of merchandise while Aria begged them fruitlessly to stop._

_A shot rang out. Gajeel froze as he realized that his gun had jumped in his hand and he immediately looked for Levy. She stood there, stunned and pale, and for a brief moment Gajeel thought that she was only in shock from hearing a gun’s discharge. Then her eyes glazed over and Gajeel finally smelled blood through the acrid smell of the gunfire._

_Totomaru completely forgotten, Gajeel lunged forward to catch her before she could hit the floor. The bullet had hit her in the head. Off to the side, but not so shallow as to be a graze._

_“No, no, no, no, LEVY!!!!” Gajeel screamed._

_Everything after that had been a blur. Someone, he assumed Totomaru, had knocked him unconscious. He’d awoken to find himself cuffed and surrounded by cops, with paramedics working to stabilize Levy long enough to get her to the hospital._

_“Is she alright?” he asked, groggily at first, before the pain in his head revived him entirely. “Levy! Is Levy alright?!” he screamed._

_“Shut up, Phantom Lord!” one of the cops barked at him. Gajeel ignored him and kept begging for someone to tell him if Levy was still alive._

_His question wouldn’t finally get answered until he was face-to-face with Detective Lahar at the police station._

_“Levy’s alive. She’s still in surgery. By some miracle, the bullet only grazed her brain, but they need to remove it or the lead poisoning could be what ultimately kills her.  
“As to whether she’s alright or not, only time is going to tell, Gajeel. But she is expected to survive.”_

_Lahar offered Gajeel a donut, but the Dragon refused. “What do you want to do here, Gajeel?”_

_“I want to confess,” Gajeel growled softly._

_“Not another word, Gajeel!” snapped a voice from the doorway. The man with the weird pompadour looked at Lahar. “I’m Wakaba Mine and I’ve been assigned as Gajeel’s lawyer.”_

_“I don’t need a lawyer, asshole!” Gajeel spat. “I’m 18! Even I know that I don’t have to have legal representation if I don’t want it!”_

_“Gajeel,” Lahar said quietly, “you know what I don’t often see in this line of work? People who are actually sorry for what they’ve done. You may want to keep your lawyer so your rights can be looked after.”_

_“What rights?!” Gajeel snarled, glaring at Lahar, his eyes flaming red with hate. “I nearly killed Levy! I have no fucking rights! Just charge me already and let’s get this shit over with!”_

_“Look, if it makes you feel any better, Wakaba is basically a lawyer who got his law degree from a Cracker Jack box.” Lahar ignored Wakaba’s bark of protest and continued.  
“He failed to pass the bar exam 12 times. Look at him, Gajeel, he’s pushing 40 and he’s been in law school eight times since he was 25. Let him at least try to get some experience from this.”_

_“You mean to tell me that if I have Wakaba as my lawyer, there’s not a chance in hell I’ll walk free from this?” Gajeel asked suspiciously._

_“Yeah, Wakaba’s pretty much the lawyer that people are given if someone wants to make sure a perp doesn’t walk._ I _would actually advise that you seek better representation.”_

_“Not fucking happening,” Gajeel snapped. He glared up at Wakaba. “Fine! I’ll let you be my lawyer. But I’m telling you right now that I have zero intentions of walking away from this.”_

_“Well, can we talk about a plea deal?” Wakaba whined plaintively. “C’mon, Gajeel, give me something to do other than just sit here and look pretty!”_

_“Well, you failed at that even more than you did at law school,” Gajeel snapped._

_Wakaba glared balefully at Lahar, who’d accidentally let a snicker past his throat, before he turned back to Gajeel and tried again. “I’m asking you to let me get a plea deal for you in exchange for helping us take down more of the Phantom Lords involved in this.”_

_“I don’t want a fucking plea deal!” Gajeel thundered. “But you want those other assholes? I will give them to you_ gladly _!”_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

_Gajeel waited in jail for a month before he was finally brought before Judge Belno. He never heard how Levy was doing, but people kept him apprised as to the welfare of his fellow Phantom Lord members. Apparently, Aria and Totomaru were already in prison. Good. He hoped they got Jose, too. That weasel-faced little shit._

_The robbery had been a set-up. Jose had found out somehow about Gajeel’s crush on Levy and, being the control-freak fuckknuckle he was, he’d planned on Gajeel killing Levy and going down for it simply because Gajeel never paid him the respect he felt he deserved for being the head of this branch of the Phantom Lords._

_All of Jose’s insecure posturing and accusing him of seeking to take over someday all finally made sense to Gajeel now. Jose had put Totomaru with Gajeel on purpose and Aria’s only job had been to keep the two of them from killing each other before things went down at the store._

_Still, it had been Gajeel’s gun that had spewed the bullet that nearly killed Levy. And Gajeel had had more than enough time in that jail cell to marinate in his hate. He wanted to kill them all, but he wanted Jose’s head on a platter the most._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

_“Gajeel Redfox, you are charged with attempted robbery at gunpoint, criminal negligence, gang conspiracy, and…” Gajeel stopped listening as Judge Belno continued the list of charges for various gang-related activity that he’d freely confessed to despite Wakaba’s begging him to just keep his trap shut.  
“Gajeel!” Judge Belno’s impatient voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “I asked _how do you plead _, Mr. Redfox?”_

_“100% guilty, your honor,” Gajeel said evenly. He just wanted this to be over already._

_“Well, that’s very interesting. And why is that, Mr. Redfox?” He didn’t like how her voice had softened its edge a little._

_“What kind of stupid question is that?!” he barked. "_ _I said 100% guilty because that’s what I am! I almost killed Levy! She shouldn’t have gotten hurt over this stupid gang war bullshit! It’s my fault she nearly died!”_

_Goddammit, why was Judge Belno being so fucking quiet?! He began to sweat._

_“It’s interesting, Mr. Redfox, because you’re the only one from Phantom Lord that I’ve ever seen take any actual responsibility for what they’ve done. Every single one of your friends—”_

_“They’re_ not _my fucking friends,” Gajeel grumbled._

_“—all tried to get the minimum sentence possible,” Belno continued as if he hadn’t interrupted her. “But here you are and you’re not contesting your involvement whatsoever. In fact, Mr. Redfox, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you’re trying your damnedest to get ‘contempt of court’ added onto your list of charges. Am I wrong?” Gajeel glared at her but didn’t answer.  
“I thought as much. You are a very troubled young man, Mr. Redfox, and that’s as plain as the studs on your face. But you’re not, at heart, a bad kid.”_

_“Bullshit!” Gajeel exploded. “Your Honor, it doesn’t fucking matter. None of this fucking matters! The only thing that matters is that I almost killed that girl and I deserve nothing less than life in prison for it! Leave me the fuck alone and just give Levy the justice she deserves, alright?! That’s all I fucking want!”_

_Judge Belno didn’t bat an eye at all the F-bombs he dropped. She was a tough old lady. He could smell it on her. Anyone else pulled this kind of shit in her court, she’d have eaten their souls. Why the fuck should he be any different? He didn’t want her goddamn mercy._

_“There’s more to justice than simply being locked away forever in prison, Mr. Redfox,” Belno said primly. “Prison is only one form of justice, and that’s usually what I recommend when I’m faced with all the unrepentant wastes of flesh I deal with every day. But every once in a while, I am granted a rare bird like you. Yes, like you, Mr. Redfox,” she continued when Gajeel opened his mouth to argue.  
“Gajeel, you are a very angry and troubled young man, but you have it in you for justice of a different kind. The kind that strives to give back to society rather than only take from it. That is why I am sentencing you to 5 years in prison.”_

_“WHAT?!” Gajeel’s temper went thermonuclear. “You can’t do that! You can’t do that to her! Levy deserves better than this! You can’t do this!” Gajeel found himself in a rough headlock by the bailiff, a huge, burly guy named Simon who made Gajeel look like a shrimp in comparison, and he was ushered from the courtroom. The last sight he got was of Lucy, Levy’s best friend, sitting there and looking at him in shock._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He couldn’t even look at Levy when he finished his story. It still burned him so much that the judge had given him such a paltry sentence.  
“I’m so sorry, Levy. I’m sorry I hurt you and I’m sorry you didn’t get the justice you deserved.”

“I think Judge Belno was right.”

“Excuse me?” He looked at her aghast.

“Lucy told me about what happened in the courtroom on the way here.”

“She did?” Gajeel asked stupidly.

“Yes, she did, and I think Judge Belno was right, Gajeel. You took responsibility. You tried to get the maximum sentence possible. No one does that. No one. That right there is why you deserve to be out here where you can do some good. And, judging by the reviews plastered all over for Metallicana’s Auto Shop? I’d say you’ve been doing just that.” Levy pulled out her phone while Gajeel stared at her, whipped into stunned silence.

“’I will never go to any other auto shop ever again,’” Levy began reading. “’In fact, I won’t let anyone else ever touch my car but Gajeel. I took my car in for a brake job and a tune-up. Gajeel found that my timing belt was also about to break, which Metallicana called me about. Next thing I know, when I pick up my car, I found that Gajeel had even fixed the timing belt but was only charging me for the brakes and the tune-up! I can’t even express how grateful I am, because I wouldn’t have been able to afford the timing belt work for another month and it didn’t even have that long left in it. Thanks, Gajeel!

Love,

Another loyal customer’”

Levy looked up at Gajeel quietly.

“I admit that I’ve never bothered to look at reviews,” Gajeel said roughly. His face was so red, Levy half expected the studs in his face to melt.

“Well, there’s plenty more like that here,” Levy said, lifting her phone to read some more. Without thinking, Gajeel laid a large hand against her arm to stop her. He was startled to see her face flame brightly against her sapphire blue hair.

“No, it’s ok, shrimp, I don’t need to hear anymore.”

“The point, Gajeel, is that you’re doing good for people out here. Much more than you’d be doing on the inside. If you were still inside, these people would be in a lot of trouble with repairs they couldn’t afford.”

“I’m only doing them because I didn’t pay my debt to society like I deserved!” Gajeel barked. “You think I couldn’t use the money from shit like that, Levy? Really? I do this shit because I still feel so guilty! I almost killed you! And then that goddamn judge had the fucking audacity to give me a wrist massage rather than give you proper justice!”

“You already ARE giving me proper justice, you fucking idiot!” Levy shoved her phone in Gajeel’s face. “THIS is the justice I want! THIS is how you make right what happened!”

Gajeel stared at Levy, completely gobsmacked. Did she really just yell at him and call him a fucking idiot?

“Your telling Phantom Lord to kick rocks when they tried to re-conscript you! THAT is the justice I want!” she continued her rant and Gajeel could see her picking up steam. Wait, how the fuck did she know about that? He asked her as much.  
“Lucy’s an investigative journalist, Gajeel, and she’s been keeping tabs on you since the shooting. She’s the one who told me that she doesn’t think you present any danger to me. That you didn’t hate me like I thought you did.”

“Wait, you thought I hated you?!” **_That_** was what she’d been concerned about?! What the actual fuck?!

“Yes!” Levy snapped. “You bit my head off when I tried to be your friend and then you fucking shot me in my store! What else was I supposed to think as a shy, stupid 17-year-old?!”

“Levy, I—” Gajeel’s voice choked off. “I’m sorry. I never hated you, Levy.” He couldn’t look at her for this next part. But it was only appropriate that he sacrifice himself on the altar of truth and humiliate himself for her sake. This was going to make her laugh her ass off, he was sure of it.  
“I actually had a huge crush on you.” He braced himself and waited. And waited. The mocking laughter never came. He looked up at her then to see if she was still alive and saw her looking at him, utterly gobsmacked, and her face once again blushing to the roots of her blue hair.

“You… you did?” she finally gasped. Something about the breathless way she sounded set Gajeel’s heart to thundering. Her lips had softened, her eyes had dilated. The pulse in her throat was throbbing madly and all Gajeel wanted to do was run his tongue along that tender vein. **_Idiot! Keep your pervy thoughts tucked away until later!_**  
“But… you bit my head off when I tried to talk to you!” she said again.

“That was an accident,” Gajeel said quietly. “You startled me out of my thoughts and I lashed out from habit. I didn’t even realize it was you until you ran away from me, and then it was too late for me to apologize. But I figured it was ultimately better that way because, obviously, there’s no way a girl like you would go for a piece of shit like me.”

Gajeel squirmed under the weight of her incredulous gaze. For such a tiny person, everything about her packed a helluva wallop. Unable to take anymore, he looked away, but he still felt trapped in the gravity well of her hazel regard. He didn’t dare move. Finally, he heard her move and he was sure she was going to walk away. That would be the best for them both.

To his utter shock, however, Levy wasn’t walking away from him. Actually, she was walking right up to him. Ah, so she was gonna slap him. That would work, too. It was nothing short of what he deserved for everything he’d put her through.

Her hand moved up toward his face but, instead of the sting of a slap from her palm, her hand found his hair at the nape of his neck and pulled him down to her so she could close her lips over his. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: If it doesn't seem to make much sense that Gajeel automatically assumed Levy would slap him, then consider the fact that he suffers from acute anxiety. His usual defense mechanism is his propensity to lash out at people like a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it all boils down to how, with anxiety, we always expect the absolute worst thing possible in order to brace ourselves for it even if, by logical standards, that expectation doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
> 
> So, yeah, I wrote Gajeel expecting that kind of reaction from Levy on purpose.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they've sampled a little taste of paradise together, Levy'll be damned if she lets Gajeel run away now, and Gajeel will learn that it's not wise to piss off a certain petite bluenette...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so apparently having the chapter saved ahead of time as a Draft means that when it’s actually posted, it doesn’t update the “last updated” date 🤦🏻♀️ Sorry about that, folks! No more shortcuts for meeeee! 
> 
> Also, thanks so much for the comments thus far! Y’all gave me life! <3

Levy had no idea where she’d found the gumption. The last thing on earth she had expected was for Gajeel to say that he’d had a crush on her back then before everything had gone sideways. She hadn’t even any real idea of how long she stared at him, waiting for him to say something cruel, such as, “Haha, just kidding.” But the joke never came. Instead, the longer she stared, the more he shrank away from eye contact, waiting for her to tell him to get fucked or something.

It was like she was on autopilot or something. She walked up to this towering giant. She reminded him of a wounded wolf, the kind who was used to pain but would lash out and snap at anyone that would try to alleviate what they could. So, she moved slowly. She reached a hand up and she caught the almost imperceptible flinch from him. He expected to be struck. Instead, her hand found the hair and the base of his neck. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but she’d definitely not expected her fingers to be met with midnight silk. She couldn’t resist fisting her fingers into his luxurious tresses as she pulled him to herself.

A brief gasp was the only sound he was able to make before she brought his lips down to hers and tasted him for the first time. Was that her heartbeat thundering in her ears or was that his? He was stiff against her and she began to think she’d made a mistake. Oh… shit…

But then, like the miracle of snowmelt in spring, his mouth softened against hers and he swept her against him with a groan. Oh, gods, that was the sexiest sound in the world! He sounded helpless against her as his walls began to crack for what was probably the first time ever in his entire life and, for the first time in hers, Levy felt like the most powerful woman in the world.

Levy felt his tongue against her lower lip and she opened to him gladly, a pleading whimper dredging past her throat. He tasted of molten iron and musk. He smelled of Irish Spring with subtle notes of motor oil and it was a heady combination. He’d smelled of auto shop even when they’d been in school and it was a scent she’d always been addicted to from him.

“Levy,” he moaned against her mouth and she silenced him by sweeping her tongue against him, unwilling to let this magic be broken just yet. He made that whimpering sound again and Levy thought she might burst into flames. Then she did what she’d always wanted to do: she pulled herself up his body to be at a more equal height. The steel bands of Gajeel’s arms responded by crushing her to him and lifting her against him like she was no heavier than a feather.

Levy had always hated how tiny and petite she was, but now? In Gajeel’s arms, she was tiny yet powerful. She sighed when she felt her back come gently into contact with the wall, held up with the strength of Gajeel’s body against her so his hands could rove her face and his lips could trail her neck, tracing his tongue against the pulsing vein in her neck that throbbed furiously in time with her thunderously beating heart.

“Gajeel!” she whispered his name fervently. Every nerve of her being was on fire and she was becoming ever more acutely aware of his huge body between her legs.

But then she felt him stiffen and it was not in a good way. She felt his fingers touching… oh gods, he’d found her scar! Her heart cried out in weeping protest as he pulled away from her, setting her back on her feet.  
“Gajeel!” she pleaded again, but his eyes had darkened back to their haunted, lost hue, completely horrified by the feeling of the evidence of what he’d done against his fingertips.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, his face pale.

“Gajeel, wait!” Levy begged. But her spell over him had been broken and he was lost to her again. Completely devastated at the emptiness before her without her Iron Dragon there, Levy sank to the ground and wept quietly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Miraculously, it was a slow day at the shop the next day. Or perhaps Metallicana had noticed how out of it Gajeel was and didn’t bring him anything new to work on. That old fart would probably do that.

Gajeel hadn’t slept a wink since running away from Levy like a fucking coward. He could still feel her on his skin. He could still taste her on his lips. He could still feel her legs around his hips, the way she’d moved against him when he’d had her pinned against the wall. He could still feel her fingers in his hair as she dragged his mouth down to hers.

Oh gods, his heart had completely stopped when she did that. He’d been so shocked by that action, he had completely forgotten what he should do. What he should have done was push her away. And yet everything else in him warred with that and insisted that he do the dumbest fucking thing ever and kiss her back the way he’d always wanted to.

The first time he’d ever seen Levy had been when he’d gone into the high school library to find a book for some assigned reading. No one would have ever guessed that he liked to read and even though he couldn’t really get into the “classical literature” stuff that literary snobs went on about, he’d always adored sci-fi/fantasy. And he’d known just the book he’d wanted to use for the book report he was supposed to do.

And she’d been there. She’d been wearing a short little yellow sundress with matching detached sleeves that began at just above her elbows and billowed down from there. She had reminded him of a faerie princess from one of his favorite books. Her short blue hair had been pushed back from her face into a ponytail and the locks of hair that had been too short to be pulled back had framed her face in such an endearing way that he’d never been able to put into words. And she’d been wearing glasses. Gajeel had always been a sucker for the nerdy-girl-with-glasses look.

He’d stood there for an embarrassing amount of time just watching her read, wholly absorbed in her book, before he’d managed to shake himself out of his reverie to remind himself that, regardless of how things went in the stories he read, guys like him never actually got the girl. And this girl? Oof. It wasn’t possible to measure how out of his league she was.

Except… that girl had kissed him. Had climbed up his body and wrapped herself around him and had looked so lost and dejected when he pushed her away. Girls… women didn’t do that shit over guys they considered below them, did they?

Still, for such a smart girl, it was really stupid that she’d want him, wasn’t it? He’d almost killed her. There was no way he could ever be worthy of her. His heart felt dead in his chest as he made his decision. It was better for them both if he stayed away from her.

“Don’t you think you should include her in this decision?” Metallicana asked casually from where he sat, working on paperwork.

“Huh?” Gajeel asked stupidly.

“Oh, were you not aware that you are mumbling over there? Completely audible?” his boss asked flippantly.

**_Oh, fuck. Come the fuck on, now. Now I gotta deal with my_** boss ** _jumping my case?_**

“Gajeel, you seriously need a reality check and you’re ignoring everyone who’s ever tried to give you one.” Metallicana looked up at last. “Now, I understand that you completely hate yourself and I understand why, but what good is that doing you? In fact, what good is it really doing anyone?  
“You need to learn to forgive yourself, boy. Yeah, you majorly fucked up back then. Everyone fucks up sometimes and yes, some fuck-ups are worse than others. But haven’t you ever noticed that most people who make fuck-ups of that caliber never really do jack shit to better themselves?”

Gajeel gaped at his boss, completely mute.

“Exactly,” Metallicana affirmed, completely validated by Gajeel’s silence. “But you, my boy, have done nothing _**but**_ try to do better since that whole mess happened. You tried to get put away for life. The judge saw fit to say that there was a better way for justice to happen. She had faith that you would do more good out here than you could in there. And all you’ve done since you got out was prove her right. In there, you were just in a cage. Out here, you’re actually making a difference for people.”

“Levy tried to tell me the same thing last night,” Gajeel admitted quietly.

“Yeah, well, you should really learn to listen to other people sometimes,” Metallicana snapped impatiently. “You’re far too smart and you’ve got far too much potential for you to let it go to waste in your bullshit, useless self-loathing.”

“I don’t think she’d even want to see me again after I ran away last night,” Gajeel moped.

“Oh, like a complete coward?”

“Hey! Watch it, old man!”

  
“Grow up, little boy! You weren’t protecting her, you were protecting yourself the way you’ve always done rather than let anyone get closer to you than the cars you work on!” the old Dragon shot right back.

Gajeel was about to fire off some sort of comeback, but their argument was cut short by the sound of the front desk bell ringing and a voice calling, “Excuse me! Is anyone here?”

“Saved by the bell,” Gajeel drawled.

“Don’t **_even_** think I’m remotely finished with you, bonehead,” retorted the grumpy Dragon before he walked to the front to greet whoever had come into the shop. Only a few moments passed.  
“Oi! Gajeel! You’ve got a customer!”

“Yeah, yeah, keep your fucking scales on!” he groused. He was about to say something else but the first thing he saw when he walked through the entryway was Metallicana’s smug, satisfied smile. And then he saw her.  
“Levy?” he gasped. What the fuck was she doing here? Then he noticed that she looked none too happy. Ah, shit. He was in for it. “What… what’re you doing here?”

“I’m on my lunch break,” she said coldly.

“Uh…” Gajeel floundered. “Is… something wrong with your car?” he finally asked.

“You fucking dunderhead!” Metallicana barked. “She’s here to take you to lunch! It’s called ‘talking your shit out’! Now, you kids go have fun!”

Gajeel looked at the blue-haired woman, still unsure of himself. She looked like she was ready to eat a bucket of nails and that such might be preferable to being near him.

“I don’t have all day, Gajeel, I have an hour!”

He didn’t know what to say, so he walked wordlessly around the counter and followed her outside. She didn’t speak to him as she walked. So many times, as they walked, Gajeel opened his mouth to try to say something before thinking better of it and just keeping quiet. He was completely out of his depth here and he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

This kind of shit was why he’d always preferred to keep to himself. He never really knew how to act around people and he usually did the wrong thing. So, as the years had gone by, it had just been easier to pre-emptively keep people away from him.

“Uh… Levy?” Jesus, she was scarier than Juvia when she was silent. “Where are we going?”

“I honestly have no fucking idea!” she snapped. “I’m walking because I’m angry and I don’t know what to say to you.”

“Oh good, cause I, according to my boss, am a scared little coward and I don’t know what to say to you!” Gajeel replied with a level of teasing cheek that he wasn’t quite sure was safe for him to give.

“Yeah, well, your boss has a point,” Levy quipped while she gave him a hefty dose of side-eye, though her voice was showing a loss of steam.

Gajeel couldn’t take it anymore. “Levy,” he began, reaching gently for her arm to make her stop, “I’m sorry.” She looked at him with a skeptical frown. Oh, sure, he shot her in the head and she had been a lot more ready to forgive him that, but running away from her last night had been the thing she would hold over his head? **_Make_** that ** _make sense._** Then again, knowing his luck, someone would actually explain it to him where the hindsight made him feel entirely fucking stupid.  
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “When I told you I’d had a crush on you, I expected you to laugh at me.”

“That had nothing to do with why you bailed on me,” she snapped.

“No, it didn’t, but please, Levy. I’m not trying to make excuses. I’m actually trying to… to make you understand.”

“Make me understand what?”

“That my night went from me being scared of re-traumatizing you, to you chasing me down outside, to me telling you how I’d felt about you back then and expecting you to laugh at me, to you kissing me instead! I’m not used to rollercoasters like that and I think you know that! Since when have I ever let anyone close enough to kiss me, huh?”

Levy’s expression softened as he talked. “Well, I’m about to send you on another rollercoaster hill, Gajeel. I had a crush on you back then, too.”

Gajeel’s face flamed. “Bullshit!” he blurted, his voice stunned.

“Would I have thrown myself at you face-first last night when you told me how you’d felt if that **_weren’t_** the case?” Levy challenged. “ ** _My_** night went from me only just shedding 10 years of believing you hated me, to seeing you verify everything Lucy told me by trying to get out of there before you triggered me, to you telling me that you’d had a crush on me when I could have sworn that I was just another bother to you back then!  
“I’ve always been the shy, sheltered introvert,” Levy sighed at last. “I’d never done anything like that before either, but when you said that, I… I was already riding an adrenaline high just from putting my foot down with you instead of letting you chase me off again. I guess I was going for the adrenaline games hat trick by kissing you the way I always fantasized about doing back then.” She looked up at him then, her hazel eyes shining with a gloss of tears and hurt.  
“But then you felt my scar and you ran away from me! And on the one hand, I get it and I feel shitty for being so mad at you, but also? Goddammit, Gajeel, I’m mad at you!”

Gajeel quietly walked up to her until he towered directly over her. And to Levy’s credit, she maintained eye contact with him. Looking into her eyes, Gajeel began to feel a strange sort of vertigo. Did he dare be brave like Metallicana demanded? Like she demanded? Well, he’d be damned if he’d be accused of being a coward and live up to it. Cowards didn’t demand to be put into prison for life for what they’d done instead of taking the easiest way out.

He steeled his resolve and slowly lifted a shaking hand to gently cup Levy’s cheek. Her eyes dilated instantly and her scent, lilacs and honey and desire, wafted over his senses and his body hardened instantly. Her lips softened in uncertainty.

Levy had been brave for him last night. The least he could do, as a very rough gentleman with pretty much no fucking manners to speak of, was seek to do the same.

So fixed was his gaze on Levy’s lips that he was scarcely aware he’d moved at all until his mouth brushed her own. She gasped for a moment and then she melded herself against him, locking her arms around his neck as though to ensure he wouldn’t escape her again.

Oh, hell no. He had no intention of escaping her again. As terrified as he still was to really let her in, he was more afraid to not take the chance she offered. Terrified of continuing in the drab gray tones that his life had been without her, without any other meaning. Levy was a drug and he was already addicted. Addicted to her immense spirit, her determination and her strength. Addicted to her smile, her anger, her laughter, her intelligence, her innocence. Everything that Levy was, he craved more and he was helpless to stop it. If he was going over the waterfall in a barrel, then so be it.

He grabbed her up in his arms, delighting in the feel of her legs wrapping tightly about his hips, and moved them to a more secluded spot instead of making out right on the sidewalk for everyone to see. **_Oh, that’s just great, Gajeel, let’s just bring her into a disgusting alley instead! Big improvement!_**

Levy, however, didn’t seem to give a single fuck about the scenery outside of them. She clung to him like he was her lifeline, and he felt the same about her, as though he might wither away if his mouth left hers just yet. He pinned her against the wall just as he’d done last night and rimmed her lower lip with his tongue, asking for another chance. He practically saw stars when she didn’t hesitate to open herself to him. He had done nothing to deserve such trust, but she didn’t hesitate to welcome him anyway.

Oh gods, his body hardened so painfully as he felt her against him through the barrier of their clothing and he delighted in the small mewling sound she made in her throat at the feel of him pressed against her. The sound of her heartbeat thrumming. Her desire that smelled like lilacs and honey wine. Her mouth that tasted of sunshine. He framed her face with his hands and gasped her name against her lips. The way she moaned against him in response made another hot wave of need spear through him, causing his cock to throb against her in wanton demand. **_Down, boy. We’re not fucking her here in a disgusting alley._**

Slowly, she began to roll against him, seeming unsure of herself at first and becoming emboldened at his hooded, flushed expression. He drew back enough to look at her. He wanted to see her face. Oh, gods, she was gorgeous. Her hazel eyes were hooded, her mouth was open and panting, and her skin was flushed and fevered. Her eyes met his as she continued to rock her hips against him and he groaned low in his throat.

“Gajeel,” she whispered plaintively, and he couldn’t help but to finally move his hips in reply, not wishing to deny her anything. He rested his forehead against hers, still looking in her eyes as they lost themselves in this small taste of pleasure they could have.

“Oh gods, Levy,” he whispered brokenly. Her fingernails dug into his back with an erotic sting as her movements against him became more urgent. Her quiet gasps of building pleasure speared him past the point of control and he ground himself against her more thoroughly with his own building need.

She whimpered his name in a quietly building keen that he instinctively knew meant she was getting close and he covered her mouth with his, thrusting his tongue against her in the same rhythm of his hips, and swallowing her cries as she found her peak and went to pieces in his arms, gasping and moaning. He growled with longing as he helplessly surrendered himself to this pleasure with her and held her close to him as his body shuddered through his own release.

They stayed that way for several minutes as their breathing began to return to normal and their heart rates began to calm. But when he let Levy down on her feet, Gajeel stiffened for a moment. Oh, crap. He really hadn’t thought this through at all.

“Gajeel? Are you ok? Please tell me you’re not about to run away from me again,” Levy pleaded with him, completely misunderstanding the reason for his expression.

“Oh, gods no, Princess,” he said roughly. “I may be an entire asshole, but I’m not such an asshole that I’d pull you into an alley like this and then run. It’s just that…” he hesitated. Shit, this was so embarrassing. “It’s just that… well… I need to go home and change my… ah… pants.”

Understanding dawned on Levy’s face and she tried to stifle a giggle. “Ah! I get it!”

**_Someone, please kill me._ **

“Gajeel, it’s ok,” she assured him. “I promise, you’re not the first guy in history this has happened to.” Levy peeked out of the alley for a moment. “Looks like the coast is clear. Do you know of any unpopulated short-cuts back to your place?”

“Well, yeah,” Gajeel answered, confused.

  
“Well, come on then!”

“Don’t you have to be back at work?” Gods, he didn’t want her getting in trouble on his account!

“Don’t worry about it. There’s plenty of people at the library who can handle the rest of the day without me.”

“Well, look at you,” he teased, “teacher’s pet finally playing hooky!”

“Better late than never,” she chirped.

Gods, she was beautiful. Everything about her captivated him and, now that he’d finally taken the leap and gotten a taste of what it was like to let her in, he wished he’d been brave enough to do that years ago.

“Better late than never, indeed,” he said softly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Since neither had gotten any sleep the night before, it didn’t really surprise Gajeel that Levy had crashed out on his ratty old couch by the time he’d gotten out of the shower. Clad in only a comfortable pair of sweatpants, he padded over to the couch to gently shake her awake. Her eyes opened blearily.

“Let me get in there,” he asked gently. She sat up just enough to let him curl up behind her. One arm tucked in the crook of her neck, and the other she pulled about herself like a blanket before she crashed back out. Gajeel curled himself around her carefully and buried his nose in her hair before he, too, slipped away into the most peaceful sleep of his life thus far.


End file.
